President of Angola Jose Eduardo Dos Santos (translated from Russian): Mr President! It is a great honour to receive a Friendship Award for my personal contribution towards strengthening friendship and cooperation between our countries from you, Your Excellency. And I accept this award on behalf of the Angolan people since it is only thanks to their efforts that I am being rewarded for my contribution to our friendship. In a spirit of sacrifice and with a great deal of courage the Angolan people were able to defend their independence. And our people made a big contribution towards increasing friendship and cooperation between our countries. On behalf of myself and of my delegation I would like to express my gratitude for this award. It represents clear proof of the strength and importance of the ties between our peoples and of the fact that both sides are very desirous to deepen our relations in various fields of cooperation. And they would like to do this in the spirit of mutual understanding and for the common good. Therefore the main principles that guided us as we signed the 1976 treaty will remain in force.
In accordance with the present reality of our agreements in various sectors, the purpose of our visit is to give an even greater impulse to the development of our bilateral relations. We would like to engage in long-term cooperation with Russia and sign agreements relating to the short-, medium- and long-term perspectives. These agreements must be based on the principles of equality and mutual benefits so that both government structures and private business are able to implement these agreements.
One of the conditions that will promote the realisation of these agreements is security. Economic and social relations cannot exist without guaranteeing the security and defense capabilities of our countries. And so we cannot develop our relations in the economic sphere without establishing favourable conditions for financing various projects both through intergovernmental cooperation as well as cooperation between our countries’ entrepreneurs.
We discussed these and other issues, including the issue of training Angolan personnel, with President Putin. Our talks were fruitful and we consider their result to be a positive one. We also noted that the issue of global security, the need for peace throughout the world, is a central issue in our relations. And the position of the Russian party completely conforms to the expectations of the African people, many of whom are still involved in conflicts. Our dialogue and our talks were based on principles that both parties consider important. This is the preferred approach for overcoming our differences.
We also noted that the distribution of forces in the international community today demands that we make certain changes to the activities of the UN and its Security Council. This will help take into account the desires and interests of different continents.
In conclusion I would like to express my gratitude to President Putin for his invitation to visit your country. I would also like to take advantage of this occasion to invite you, Mr President, to visit the Republic of Angola at a convenient time for you.
Thank you very much.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Many thanks Mr President. Many thanks for the invitation. For my part I must say that I am very glad to welcome our respected visitor, the President of the Republic of Angola Mr Jose Eduardo dos Santos, to Moscow. I am confident that this visit will help further develop friendship and cooperation between our countries and peoples.
Over many years Russia and Angola have developed their relations based on the principles of mutual respect for each others’ interests, trust and sincere friendship. We assign great value to strengthening the legal basis of our relations and today a whole range of very important documents that strengthen this administrative base were signed.
Today we talked about expanding our trade and economic relations: they include the diamond mining industry, the energy sector, the oil and gas industry, transport and communications. We certainly spoke about regional problems and about international politics, about increasing cooperation between law enforcement agencies, and about the fight against terrorism. We also paid a significant amount of attention to these problems at the G8 summit in St Petersburg. And these same issues are in concordance with the agenda of the Africa Partnership Forum that was recently held in Moscow.
I wish to thank Mr President for the constructive and trusting dialogue. The results of our meeting today act as convincing proof that at in the twenty-first century Russian-Angolan relations will correspond to the demands of dynamic development, be substantial, and promote strengthening mutual relations between our peoples.
And now please allow me to accomplish my honoured and pleasant task of awarding the President of Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, a Friendship Award.
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Mr President, you have served for almost three decades as the head of one of the largest countries in Africa. You enjoy the well-deserved trust of the people of your country and have made a huge contribution to the process of national reconciliation to Angola.
For many decades you have exerted a decisive influence on the development of Russian-Angolan relations. It is not only your country’s economic potential that is growing; Angola’s influence in the region and in international affairs is growing as well. Allow me to congratulate you on receiving a Russian state award and to wish you, your loved ones, and all the people of Angola prosperity and well-being.